


how rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist

by rileynoah



Series: #DanversSistersWeek [7]
Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Angst, DanversSistersWeek, Day Seven, F/F, Gen, Happy Ending, Major Character Injury, She's my best friend, it's ok i fixed it i promise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-02
Updated: 2017-09-02
Packaged: 2018-12-22 22:23:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,167
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11976267
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rileynoah/pseuds/rileynoah
Summary: Danvers Sisters Week Day Seven: "She's my best friend."The aftermath of a cave-in. A continuation ofday two.





	how rare and beautiful it truly is that we exist

**Author's Note:**

> it's finally here. i have been talking this up for like the entire week so i hope it lives up to the expectations ive been raising. make sure you read [ day two](http://archiveofourown.org/works/11931096) if you haven't. no one dies, i promise. that's always been sort of a hard line for me, the only character i would ever consider killing i just pretend doesn't exist in the first place, so all is well here my friends. and im sorry but im also kind of not.
> 
> Mad props to [Olive](http://404artnotfound.tumblr.com) for the beta.
> 
>  
> 
> [catch me on tumblr.](http://letswreakhavoc.tumblr.com)

Kara can’t breath.

The rebar is the easy part. Alex’s leg slides off it easily and it doesn’t garner a reaction at all. She’s out cold, and Kara is panicking. Alex’s heart is pounding, too fast and too weak to be healthy. Kara needs to get her out of here. She’s stepping forward again to wrap Alex in her cape, to fly her to the DEO for urgent medical treatment, but a hand on her forearm halts her.

“You can’t fly her in this condition, let the medical team take her.” J’onn tells her quietly, though his grip on her forearm suggests that he knows she might try to do it anyway. She has to do something. Anything.

Kara can’t breath.

And Alex is dying.

“She’s not dying.” J’onn speaks again, and Kara thought he couldn’t read her mind, but she’s sure her thoughts are apparent on her face. Apparent in the way that she can’t quite catch her breath. In the way she can barely hear anyone else, too focused on the beating of Alex’s heart, her weak, rattling breath, the way her chest rises and falls far too shallowly to sustain a human.

The DEO emergency team is already swarming around alex, their navy blue uniforms only barely distinguishing them from the rest of the DEO agents that are buzzing around. They’re loading her onto a gurney, and she disappears into the back of a van before Kara can force her limbs to move. She’s frozen on the spot, staring after the van as it pulls away, straining to keep Alex’s heartbeat in range.

She has to hear her heartbeat. It’s the only thing stopping her from falling into a full blown panic attack.

Kara can’t breath.

And Alex is dying.

Kara turns back to the building. Clark has been clearing away rubble the entire time, and she should help him. Kara is National City’s hero, not Clark. This is her job, her role. But all she can hear is the weak throb of Alex’s pulse in her eardrums and her own heart frantically keeping pace. She barely has her hands around one piece of concrete when Alex’s heartbeat suddenly fades.

“Alex!” She yells, choking on her tears. She drops the concrete and shoots into the air, breaking the sound barrier almost immediately. In circumstances less dire, she would note that she normally can’t break the sound barrier without a run up, but she can’t focus on that now. As she races in the direction of the DEO, her ears suddenly pick up Alex’s pulse once more, and Kara realises that the van had just gone out of range. She clicks the comm in her ear.

“J’onn I-”

 _“Meet us at the DEO, Supergirl. Be there for your sister.”_ J’onn’s comforting voice cuts her off, relieving her of her hero duties so that she can race to meet the van as it pulls into the DEO’s underground parking garage. She flies directly into medical, startling all of the awaiting doctors, and begins pacing the length of the room while she waits for the field team to arrive. 

They burst in only a moment later, Alex still unconscious on the gurney and her heartbeat even weaker. There is one paramedic kneeling on the gurney, holding bloody bandages firmly against where the rebar had pierced her leg, and another handing him fresh bandages whenever he needs them. The rest of the team are focused on her head and hooking up her vitals. 

Suddenly there is a constant beeping keeping time with the rhythm of Alex’s heart, Kara tries to suck a large breath in, tries to force herself to calm down. Alex is still here, she is still fighting. Kara can see the blood pumping in her veins, and she can see her lungs expanding with every breath. 

Alex’s clothes are cut away, quickly being replaced by a hospital gown. Kara can’t even bear the thought of turning away, to spare her sisters dignity. She has to see that she is alive. She has to hear. Because machines are unreliable, but she trusts her senses. The medics are preparing her for surgery. Alex is shifted quickly, carefully, to a new gurney and her skin is wiped down as best it can be. The left side of her head is shaved, and a long gash is revealed with each lock of hair that falls away. 

It reminds Kara of Alex’s punk phase. Alex would probably think it looks cool.

If she ever makes it through this. 

Kara chokes back a sob. 

She will. She has to. 

There is some other sound in the room, a low hum. Kara can’t place it straight away, too focused on listening… _hearing_ Alex. A hand appears on her shoulder and she starts, turning to find Winn. The low hum turns out to be him, murmuring a string of comforting words while his own eyes fill with tears. The words are clearly for both of their benefits. 

The medics start moving again, taking the gurney with them. Kara follows numbly. It’s like her body doesn’t even belong to her anymore. It follows Alex by nature, whilst Kara is trapped inside her own head. She wants to yell and scream for her sister, she wants to hold her tight and heal her wounds. But there is nothing she can do except blindly follow the medics.

Until they stop her outside of the operating room.

“Supergirl, you can’t go in.” One of them says.

Kara has half a mind to just keep walking. It’s not like any of the humans could stop her anyway, and the walls of the operating room aren’t glass like most of the labs in this building. 

She wonders why that is. 

So people don’t have to watch if their family die probably. 

Kara can’t breath.

And Alex is dying.

The only thing stopping her from walking in is Winn’s hand on her shoulder and the tiny, rational part of her brain telling her that Alex is safer with her outside the room. Kara is still covered in soot and ash from the debris, her super suit torn and filthy. She would be the cause of an infection inside of the operating room.

Her legs stop moving, and the OR door swings shut. Winn is sniffling now, trying to swallow his sobs. She can barely hear him over Alex’s heart. It’s the only sound that matters, the only sound that will ever matter. It just has to keep beating.

She has to be alive.

At some point Winn directs her into OR’s side room, and onto one of the couches. The couch creaks ominously when she sinks into it with her full weight. There is a little speaker in the corner playing what Kara assumes is supposed to be comforting music.

She destroys it with her heat vision, ignoring Winn’s yelp.

“Kara-”

“I have to hear her. I have to _listen.”_

They’re the first words she’s spoken since arriving at the DEO. 

They’re hoarse and cracked. Sharp in the sudden silence of the room. 

Winn nods silently. He knows. It’s not like this is the first time Alex has been injured. It’s just never been quite this bad, quite this life threatening. Not since Rick, but that was a different kind of life threatening. Winn knows that Kara focuses on Alex’s heartbeat when she is nervous, or scared. When she’s overwhelmed and she needs a constant to rely upon, to calm her. Whenever Alex was away, or out of her hearing range, she would focus on Lena’s. Or when she was younger, she would focus on Eliza’s. But Alex has always been her constant. Her home. Her best friend.

Maggie shows up later. Kara can hear her running up to the OR. Being stopped by the same nurse. Being told she has to wait. She can hear her slam her fist into the concrete wall in anger… in fear. She can hear her wince in almost regret. Winn stands to open the door and usher her inside. Maggie sinks into the couch beside Kara, where Winn had previously been. 

The soft comforting presence of her second older sister has a calming effect.

Kara loses some of her rigidity. The first sob breaks free. It’s quiet, barely breaking through the back of her throat. Because if she’s too loud, she won’t be able to hear Alex. Her pulse is still humming, still faltering along too weakly for Kara to be able to catch her breath.

She still can’t breath.

And Alex might be dying.

“Can you hear her?” Maggie whispers. Because Maggie knows too. She knows how this works, how the story goes. Kara nods tearfully, letting another sob break free quietly, turning to muffle it in Maggie’s shoulder. 

Maggie’s strong arm wraps around her shoulder, squeezing as tightly as she possibly can. She might not be Alex but she does try to ground Kara in the ways that Alex had taught her. Taught her in case of a time just like this.

“Can you tap for me?” Maggie asks. Kara looks up at her for the first time, notices the tear tracks down her own face that are woven deep enough that Kara knows she must have stopped to talk to J’onn before racing down her. There are new tears hanging threateningly in the corner of her deep brown eyes. The tapping is a way for Kara to focus, a way for Kara to keep a lid on her fear. But it’s also a way for Maggie to hear Alex. To know that she is still here. 

Kara nods, and Maggie leans back on the couch, guiding Kara to cuddle into her gently. Her head lands on Maggie’s shoulder, and she wraps one hand in Maggie’s, and places the other on her knee. And she taps in time with Alex’s heart.

~~~~~

Alex is in surgery for four hours. In that time, almost everyone joins them in the waiting room. Winn disappears for an hour before returning with James, still wearing his guardian suit. He squeezes Kara’s shoulder and kisses the top of Maggie’s head, before taking up post beside Winn on the other couch.

Lena shows up a little while after that. J’onn must have called her. Maggie sees her and gently shifts both her and Kara to one side of the couch, so that Lena can squeeze in on Kara’s other side. She taps on her knee too.

Eliza is the last to arrive, looking windswept and followed closely by Clark. She hugs Maggie, and leans down to hug Kara who can’t find it in herself to move just yet, before settling onto the armchair on Kara and Lena’s left. Kara has run out of hands to tap with, but Eliza’s eyes track her fingers carefully, and she watches. 

Four hours is good right? Kara doesn’t really know, she’s not a doctor. Alex is the doctor. 

And Alex is also the patient.

But after four hours, Dr Hamilton comes back out wearing a pair of brand new scrubs. Kara knows she must have changed out of her blood splattered pair to save Kara and Maggie the pain, the knowledge that it was Alex’s blood on her clothes.

Kara sits up sharply, but her fingers keep tapping. Alex is still here.

Alex is alive.

And Kara can breath, just a little bit.

“She’s out, and she’s being taken up into the med bay for recovery.” Dr Hamilton tells them with a tired smile. The entire room waits on baited breath for her to continue. To tell them the prognosis, whether Alex will recover.

“She has a nasty concussion and there was some hemorrhaging, but we repaired everything without any complications, and relieved the pressure in her skull. We won’t know what kind of damage there has been until she wakes up, but it’s looking very good.”

Maggie’s breath hitches, and she let’s out a quiet, relieved sob in response. Lena slumps back into the couch, letting her posture sag in the same relief. Winn and James hug tightly, and J’onn nods stoically. To everyone else, he appears to have the same mask on as always. Calm, collected and focused, but Kara can pick up on the minor changes. The way his jaw unclenches, and his shoulders loosen ever so slightly. 

Alex is alive. She seems to be okay.

But Kara still can’t catch her breath.

She knows she won’t be able to, not until Alex wakes up. Not until she can feel Alex’s arms around her, and see Alex’s soulful brown eyes. Not until she knows Alex really is okay.

~~~~~

Alex doesn’t wake up.

And Kara hasn’t been able to breath for four days. 

Alex’s pulse still thrums in her ears, stronger than ever. It doesn’t falter anymore, doesn’t skip a beat here and there like it did on the first day. Kara’s chest feels a little less tight, but she still can’t quite fill her lungs properly. She still can’t quite suck in a full breath.

Because Alex won’t wake up.

Dr Hamilton said it could take some time. Weeks even, she said, for Alex’s body to recuperate from the trauma. And four days in, she still has yet to even twitch. A pullout couch is moved into the medbay. Kara and Maggie share it every night. It’s definitely against procedure, against the rules even, but the couch appears without them even asking for it. Kara smiles gratefully, tearfully, at J’onn when she sees him watching through the glass. 

Lena comes every night. Spends as long as she can sitting beside Kara, trying to offer the best comfort she can. She brings her work with her, at Kara’s insistence, so that her company will still be standing when Alex wakes up.

If Alex wakes up.

Between her second older sister, and her girlfriend, Kara regains some functionality on day five. James had been covering her at CatCo, and J’onn covering for Supergirl.

Kara remembers how to take care of herself, how to do more than just accept the food being given to her and sleep fitfully when she becomes exhausted enough to pass out. She takes a shower without Lena having to prompt her for a few hours beforehand. She can’t bring herself to put her own clothes back on, though, and she pulls on a pair of Alex’s sweatpants and an old DEO shirt that still smells like her.

Maggie does the same, and they sit together by Alex’s bedside during the day, and they cuddle together in the pull-out at night. 

On day six, Alex’s hand twitches.

Maggie misses is, sitting on the other side of the bed with her forehead resting on Alex’s forearm. But Kara sees it clear as day, her right hand tightens, and her fingers curl in slightly before relaxing again. Her heartbeat picks up for a second, before settling back into the same, regular pace it has been for six days. 

“Alex?” Kara all but shouts, startling a slightly dozing Maggie. The detective shoots out of her chair, eyes searching Alex’s face. But Alex’s face is relaxed, her eyes still shut, her features still slack in sleep.

“Kara?” Maggie asks.

“Her hand, it moved!” Kara tells her, shocked. It had! It had moved, she saw it with her own eyes. Maggie looks down at Alex, stroking her face with a tenderness that almost makes Kara want to turn away. 

“Come back to us, Alex.” She whispers, pressing a kiss to Alex’s forehead.

“She’s fighting.” Kara says, for her own benefit as well as Maggie’s. “She’ll always fight to come back to us.”

Maggie looks up at her tearfully, nodding. 

“She has to.” Kara tags on, feeling herself well up as well. Maggie rounds to the bed to pull Kara into a tight hug. She squeezes Kara’s torso will all of her might, anchoring Kara to the moment, the feeling of hope that blossoms in her chest.

“She’s my best friend.” Kara whispers, pressing her face into Maggie’s shoulder. She’s getting tears all over the shirt Maggie is wearing. It’s the shirt that Kara had bought Alex as a joke. The bright orange one that reads _‘hello sunshine’_ across the front. 

“She will.” Maggie promises. “She always does.”

Kara nods against Maggie’s shoulder, sniffling to try and reduce the damage to Alex’s shirt. Maggie holds her solidly, calmly, without complaint. Maggie holds her like Alex would, if she were awake. Rao, Kara wishes she would just wake up.

The thrum of Alex’s pulse in her ear remains steady… but it’s faster. It’s definitely faster than before. Alex’s resting heart rate is 61 beats per minute. It’s been pulsing at 61 beats per minute for six days.

Alex’s heart is beating at 74 beats per minute. 

Kara jerks back from Maggie harshly, eyes landing on Alex immediately. 

She’s stirring.

“Alex?” She calls, racing towards the side of the bed. Alex’s eyelids flutter and her jaw tightens. Small changes, but they’re there. Kara grips Alex’s hand with a barely checked force, and her other hand moves to cup Alex’s cheek much more gently. Maggie appears again on the opposite side of the bed, picking up Alex’s slack hand and holding onto it tightly as well.

“Wake up, Alex.” Maggie urges, turning to wipe her tears on the sleeve of her shirt.

“Come on, Alex.” Kara begs. “Open your stupid eyes.”

Her heart rate is increasing, and her eyelids keep fluttering.

Then Alex’s hand tightens in hers, and suddenly Kara is looking down into brown eyes hasn’t seen in six days. She sobs out her sister’s name, squeezing even harder on Alex’s hand as she starts to really wake up. Her eyes dart around the room quickly before landing back on Kara.

“W-who are you?”

Kara’s heart stops. She can hear Maggie’s falter too. The panic is blooming in her chest again, reaching out to suffocate her- until she sees Alex's smirk.

“Alex!” Kara yells, burying her face in Alex’s shoulder. “Don’t _do_ that!”

“Jesus Christ, Danvers.” Maggie chastises, but Kara can hear the relieved grin in her tone. She can also hear the sounds of their kiss, and she distinctly tunes out the sound of their whispering. Though she’s pretty sure it sounded something like _‘I love you’_ and _‘I’m here, I’m okay’._

Kara feels laughter bubbling up in her chest, replacing the panic. Alex wriggles her hand free of Kara’s and wraps her arm around her shoulders, pulling her in as tightly as she can. She’s still weak, Kara can feel it in her embrace, but she’s here. Alex is here, and she’s awake, and she’s pulling Kara in as tightly as she can managed.

Alex is alive. Alex is okay.

Alex is breathing, and laughing, and smiling.

Alex is hugging Kara into her chest, and whispering comfort into her ear. Whispering _‘I love you’_ and _‘I’ll always come back to you’_ and _‘you should have seen your face’._

And Kara can finally breath again.


End file.
